The night didn't start as anything in particular.
Bettany had sent her home at six — not asked, sent. The specific Bettany verb. *Dr. Voss Ashveil. Your shift ended forty minutes ago. Bay four is covered.* The tone of someone whose statement contained a direction and expected compliance.
She'd complied.
Thirty weeks had a specific quality she hadn't anticipated. Not difficult — the opposite. She felt very present. More specifically located in her own body than she'd been at twenty or twenty-four or any of the previous weeks. Davan was real in a way that had become its own constant — not intrusive, just: there. A specific gravity in every room.
Zevran was at the kitchen table when she came in.
Pack communications, as usual. The tablet. The specific posture of a man who worked at whatev
